RE: A question for my friends in the north.

[CajunCamper]

 
I have read more than a couple of post from our friends in the north that have said things like," this will be our last camping trip of the year" , or " gonna start winterizing here pretty soon"  making some type of reference to winter coming. Just out of curiousity, what do you consider to be too cold for camping? Or do you winter camp there in the north when it s not snowing. I was in upstate New York last Christmas skiing with my family, and with the amount of snow we had, there is no way I would want to be in a pop-up during that. But if the snow fall was at a minimum, I could see camping in a winter wonderland to be rather nice. We have both tent camped and camped in our pop-up in temps below freezing without snow and had a wonderful time, but as I said lots of snow falling I think would be a different story. What are your thoughts

[garym053]

 CajunCamper
Hi CajunCamper! We live in Central Vermont, and in the mountains freezing temps CAN happen almost any month of the year, although probably at higher altitudes than you d pull a pop-up! Anyway, we have camped in October and enjoyed it, even though the furnace ran almost constantly at night. The last few years, my wife has decided that camping ends Labor Day, as after that we get too busy with Sunday School and Youth Group. (No, we have no kids at home, but teaching OPK- Other People s kids!)
 I would love to try winter camping, either in the PU or a tent, but I m sure I d be going it alone! We Cross Country Ski along the sides of Mt Washington and its  neighboring mtns in New Hampshire, and there is a campground nearby that plows out some of the spaces for winter camping and it s usually pretty well used on weekends!
 For us it s more of a date type cutoff than it is a temperature thing!

[ForestCreature]

 CajunCamper
It s definately more of a tempreature thing here. We camp well into Oct or Nov as it is.
 I have been wanting to try winter camping, but DH is a little more reluctant to try it.
 Those cold temps can be pretty hard on his arthritis.
 Camping in a snow covered GC sounds like it would be nice and peaceful.
 Being the Aliner is insulated, it should stay nice and cozy in there.
 Maybe some day we ll try it.

[chasd60]

 CajunCamper
The winterizing stems from the fact that the temps will be below freezing pretty soon and the water pipes may break. Once the weather begins to change, it becomes pretty hard to predict whether or not a storm will be rain, sleet, freezing rain, dry snow or wet heavy snow.
 
 I for one know for a fact that the metal bows that hold the tenting up on the bunkends will not stand up to a good heavy wet snow (luckily they bend back fairly easily too). I have camped when the temp at night got down to 17 degrees and the high for the day was about 42 degrees.
 
 As a rule I stay outside of the camper when I camp, when the temp outside is too chilly to sit around the picnic table..........camping season is over for me. Or when the beer is warmer than the outside air [].

[kathybrj]

 CajunCamper
If we wanted to boondock, then we could winter camp. But most state parks shut down. Those that don t certainly don t keep bathrooms/shower facilities open or have running water after October 15th or so. I have heard of a few private cg s that stay open all year, but, again, they offer no bathrooms or running water, for the obvious reason of the possibility of frozen pipes.

[Jeffrey]

 CajunCamper
For us it s a scheduling problem. Getting away for more than one night is pretty tough after school starts.
 
 I do manage a few trips, in a tent, or ice fishing. but usually I just give up til next year.
 
 
 

[Miller Tyme]

 CajunCamper
It s not so much about temperature, it s just that most private cgs and some SP s in Wisconsin close around Oct. 15.[:@]
 With our hard-side Pal, we could camp comfortably in 20 degree weather. We don t use the water lines at all, so no problem there. We have a furnace, rarely used because we have an electric oscillating heater fan.
 Besides that, all my vacation time this year is gone. I ll have to watch that next year.[]

[tlhdoc]

 CajunCamper
This weekend may be our last trip of the year, unless we have some nice weather in November.  We are going on a non-camping vacation in 2 weeks, for 2 weeks.  I will winterize the PU on Sunday in case we get an early cold snap when we are away.  This way I will not worry when we are in Florida.  Usually we will camp in October and sometimes November.  Many of PA s state parks close the third weekend in October.

[DiW]

 CajunCamper
We re planning to camp Oct 24-26 at North-South Lake (NY) but that may change. Seems the doctors want to reschedule our son s surgery (originally scheduled 10/10).
 Di

[Ernhrts3n8]

 CajunCamper
Our campgrounds up here close around the 15th of Oct.  The problem as stated before is the fact of the pipes freezing up and breaking.  I had that happen once to me and it was no fun changing those pipes.

[DC]

 CajunCamper
We have camped when cold but not snow on the ground.  This year I plan on taking the camper up into the mountains for Elk season.  I ll be up close to 10,000 feet in elevation.  We ll see how it goes.  There will be snow....at least I HOPE so.

[jeffsxyl]

 CajunCamper
Two years ago in mid-January, I sat at the window sill with my chin in my hands, my stare fixed on the camper surrounded by still green grass, and yearned to de-winterize the pop-up and hit the road.  That was the winter of the non-winter.
 
 Last year, we held off winterizing (my doing I m afraid), and wound up repairing all the sink sets in the camper and dealing with the results of water vs. particle board all season.  We never did go camping  cause the sound of vinyl bending at temps less than 40 degrees F sent shivers down my spine.  Yes, I whimped out.
 
 THIS year, at least one more trip before we officially end the season is a must.  Our weekends in October have been commandeered and we ll miss the trip we had planned before most of the SP close in PA.  Some parks do stay open all year, but I don t want to be up there during any hunting season where firearms are permitted.  For some reason being shot by a drunk with an arrow is less offensive than one with a rifle or shotgun.  I?m not anti-hunter, the LOML is a hunter and I know there are very responsible hunters out there.  IMHO, alcohol and firearms just should never mix!   Most telling is that my DH doesn t feel comfortable camping then either.  So sometime before the start of deer season, we ll go camping again.  Then sadly and grudgingly we will winterize . . .
 

[PI]

 CajunCamper
Same here for us. The question, is if you use the popup later in the season and we get freezing temps and who knows what you will get for precip., How do you dry the thing out and winterize before we get more? It was Oct. last year when winter started and we had to wait quite a while to get a dry day to get to close it up. It has been a very wet summer and I suspect it will be a wet and early winter. I m all set with going in below freezing temps....how would youever keep the camper warm for extended periods of time. The other problem is like the others have stated......the cg are all closed around Oct 11-15. If I had a tt I may feel better about going later and head further south. I do miss it though.

[angelsmom10]

 ForestCreature

 

ORIGINAL:  ForestCreature
 
 It s definately more of a tempreature thing here. We camp well into Oct or Nov as it is.
 I have been wanting to try winter camping, but DH is a little more reluctant to try it.
 Those cold temps can be pretty hard on his arthritis.
 Camping in a snow covered GC sounds like it would be nice and peaceful.
 Being the Aliner is insulated, it should stay nice and cozy in there.
 Maybe some day we ll try it.
 

We re planning on camping the 2nd weekend in Oct, but just found out our temps then end of this week will be dipping into the mid 30 s -- will this effect our PU if we don t winterize it so we can still camp.
 
 Our temps go up and down more than my weight[:@][:@][:@]

[topcat7736]

 CajunCamper
We camp in the popup until the temperatures begin to drop into the 30 s. Once we close it up, it s closed until the temperatures again reach the 40 s. I worry about the vinyl windows cracking (when opening in frigid temperatures) and damage from water freezing in the hoses and fixtures.
 
 Once the popup is retired, we camp in shelters and cabins in the state parks which are open year round. Well water is always available inside the bathrooms where it doesn t freeze.
 
 Angelsmom10: Freezing temperatures will cause your hoses and fixtures to crack from the water expanding as it turns to ice. Once you " winterize"  the popup s water system you can still use the popup. Treat it like a tent, use no water features (sink, toilet, etc.) and you ll be fine. Here s a link to someone who winterizes his trailer and then winter camps in it. Of course, it s one of those " hard sided"  things. LOL
 
 [link=http://www.fiberglassrv.com/winter-camping.php]I WINTER CAMP ANYWAY![/link]